Organised Labour warns against ‘adverse’ IMF policies

Organised Labour has indicated that any policy from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that will worsen conditions of members will bring “confusion” into the country.

“The country will look very difficult to govern,” stated Edward Kareweh, the Deputy General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU).

Other labour unions stated that reports that the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) would be scrapped while a likely retrenchment would be carried out under the IMF will be fodder for unrest in the country.

“The confusion is going to rise because you are going to worsen people’s conditions,” said Solomon Kotei, the General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU).

“Don’t let us forget there are Ghanaians and other people who are supposed to be migrated unto the SSPP and they’ve yet not been there and there are others who are also supposed to have some allowances that the SSSS must bring which is also down there,” he pointed out.

They expressed these sentiments in reaction to a bail-out government is scheduled to secure from the IMF to save the country’s economy from totally collapsing.

The directive to seek a bail-out from the US-based organisation was given by President John Dramani Mahama after an Economic Advisory Committee meeting last Friday.

Though government has come out to allay fears of the outcome of the bail-out, Organised Labour has rejected the move, threatening to resist any policy that will go against the will of workers.

“Government must not take any advice against the will of the people because government is for the people and by the people. We have elected government to be there. So they have to find out from us whether they should take off the Single Spine [Pay Policy] or not,” expressed Mr Kareweh.

ICU’s General Secretary called for a clear action on the part of government in solving the economic challenges because “we have seen too much hardcore policies in this recent past.”

“After all, we find experience in this country where IMF technical and financial support brought us here today. It is not only Ghana but wherever IMF has brought us to in the developing world, they have had serious economic crises.”